Batavian Elite's Lavish Funeral Ceremony

Showing off luxury was common for Batavian citizens during the VOC colonial era. The Batavian elite showed off their wealth not only when going to church, where they would be accompanied by several slaves carrying umbrellas and fans, but also in various events such as wedding ceremonies and funerals. Dutch archivist Frederik de Haan in Oud Batavia-Volume II revealed that funerals gave everyone the opportunity to look attractive in all situations.  

According to historian Hendrik E. Niemeijer in Batavia: Masyarakat Kolonial Abad XVII (Batavia: Colonial Society in the XVII Century), funeral ceremonies in Batavia were actually organized simply in the early 17th century, but this began to change in the 1650s when a number of wealthy and influential people in the city began to send two bearers of funeral news to relatives and friends.

“The Supreme Government determined that the cost of hiring a bearer of funeral news was a maximum of two ringgit even though it was done by two or more people,” wrote Niemeijer.

For Batavia residents, especially the elite, preparing for departure to the afterlife was a must. Apart from making a will, they would also appoint people who would bury them. In fact, former Governor-General Willem van Outhoorn (served 1691-1704) in his last will specified in detail what should be done during his funeral procession.

Preparations weren’t just limited to the burial process, but started from the moment the person was declared dead. After the body is cleaned and made up, it is placed in an open coffin and placed in the front room of the funeral home to make it easier for relatives and acquaintances to say goodbye. Several candles were placed around the coffin to illuminate family members, relatives and those hired to look after the body at night.

For Batavia's elite, black cloth adorned not only the front room of the funeral home, but the entire front of the house. Sometimes the whole house, the front door, the front facade and the furniture were also covered in black cloth. In addition, a number of valuables from clothes, jewelry, to slaves, were often placed near the coffin along with the family crest that was hung there.

The obituaries were distributed in large numbers throughout the city because they were also intended as funeral invitations, while the obituaries printed in dark colors only contained death notices to people outside the city. “Of course, with these obituaries, vanity once again found a suitable place; bigger, more expensive, and more extravagant,” de Haan wrote. A 1753 regulation stipulated that this situation was only allowed for certain ranks and that the information regarding the identity had to comply with legal regulations.

On the other hand, the lower class of society usually hired a mardijker (freed slaves) soldier as an obituary bearer. However, since 1735, it had been mandatory for everyone to use the services of a professional obituary bearer. The bearer would announce the news of the death in the neighborhood and distribute the death certificates, which required a good knowledge of each person's rank, position, and relationship to the deceased person to determine whether they were invited “as a friend” or not. The bearer would then compile the invitation list, a very important document that must be stamped and would determine the priority order of the procession with the appropriate title for each person.

Of course, with these obituaries, vanity once again found a suitable place; bigger, more expensive, and more extravagant.

When the guests had assembled, the officer distributed the rented clothes and burial cloths. The closest relatives, neighbors and friends who would walk directly behind the coffin wore long robes with tails dangled on the ground, while other invited guests wore shorter robes.  

The invited guests also wore mourning veils hung on their hats. The more money one had, the more expensive the cloth used for this procession. “Viewed as a form of luxury, there was always a tendency to multiply the number of long robes excessively,” de Haan wrote.

The coffin also showcased this luxury through the carving and silver emblem decoration to make it look like an expensive work of art. Usually the coffin would be carried by relatives and friends, but it was customary to hire people to carry it. Meanwhile, the pallbearers walked beside the coffin and held the tassels or strips of cloth hung over it to hide the hired workers carrying the coffin.

According to de Haan, pallbearers began to be replaced by hearses when in 1743 the use of hearses became compulsory except for the poorest, with a predetermined number of horses according to the rank of the deceased. This funeral procession was a great entertainment for the people of Batavia.

The ceremony was then closed by holding a proper banquet. Interestingly, at that time, the average lifespan of the Batavian population, especially Europeans, was not too long and burials were carried out alternately. As a result, the funeral ceremony slowly changed from a moment of mourning to a joyous banquet event even though the family was being afflicted with grief. The excitement was evident in the number of invited guests who came to the banquet. The more influential a person was, the more guests attended the funeral feast.

The dishes served were diverse, especially in banquets organized by Batavia's elite in which the amount of food served was much more abundant. In addition to beef, lamb and chicken, they served Dutch bread and butter. Tobacco and liquor were also mandatory at these banquets.

“The large amount of liquor consumed during funeral parties led the authorities to issue a ban on consuming liquor during funeral ceremonies,” Niemeijer wrote. Furthermore, it was also decided that the usual meal at the funeral home should only be attended by family members and close relatives, while other mourners could only shake hands with the family at the door of the funeral home and were not allowed to enter.

Not unlike a wedding party, the funeral procession of Batavia residents required a large amount of money and therefore became an occasion to show off wealth. It was no wonder that a group of people with limited finances chose to go into debt rather than carry out a simple funeral ceremony.

Gradually, the habit of flaunting extravagance in funeral ceremonies angered the government, which then issued a ban on common people spending money on funeral ceremonies. In addition, as early as 1658, the government had also issued an edict prohibiting extravagant behavior at funerals, especially excessive feasting and hiring a group of people as pallbearers who wore robes and hoods in black silk. Since 1682, fines had been imposed for sending the funeral carriage from the church to the burial place at night with candles and torches lit.

“If the body arrived at the burial place after half past six in the evening, the family of the deceased must pay a fine of 10 ringgit to the Diakonia Council; if the body arrived at six in the evening, the fine became 20 ringgit and if it arrived at half past seven in the evening, the fine became 40 ringgit. Gravediggers were required to report to the diakonia any violations of the hours under threat of dismissal if they failed to do so,” Niemeijer wrote.

Although a number of fines had been imposed, many considered the ban to be an afterthought because for those who had a lot of money, a lavish funeral procession could still be held by paying the predetermined fine. Therefore, many people considered that the regulation didn't actually touch the Batavian elite because the habit of spending money and living luxuriously continued in various aspects of their life.